Sihanoukville

An hour’s ferry ride from Sihanoukville, Koh Rong rises from the turquoise Gulf like a jade pendant — 78 square kilometres of jungle-clad hills, 43 kilometres of sugar-white beaches, and water so clear you can count the parrotfish from the boat deck. The island’s soul resides in its duality: the southeast corner around Koh Touch thrums with backpacker energy — fire shows, beach bars, and bioluminescent plankton tours that turn night swims into starfields — while the vast majority of the coastline remains pristine, accessible only by longtail boat or footpath. Long Set Beach (4K Beach) on the west coast is a masterpiece: a crescent of talcum sand framed by casuarinas, where the only footprints at sunrise belong to macaques and monitor lizards. Inland, trails thread through primary rainforest to hidden waterfalls and viewpoints overlooking the scattered archipelago. Koh Rong is Cambodia’s answer to the Thai islands of two decades ago — still wild enough to surprise, developed enough to comfort.

If Cambodia has a secret Caribbean, it’s Koh Rong Sanloem – a teardrop of powder‑white sand and turquoise water just 45 minutes by ferry from Sihanoukville. Unlike its livelier neighbour Koh Rong, Sanloem trades beach parties for bioluminescent plankton, jungle‑fringed coves, and a Robinson‑Crusoe pace. Saracen Bay’s gentle arc is perfect for dawn paddle‑boarding; Lazy Beach rewards a sweaty jungle trek with hammock‑strung seclusion. At night, wade into the shallows to stir constellations of blue light – a natural fireworks display no resort can replicate.

Where the Gulf of Thailand kisses the Cambodian coast, Ream National Park unfurls as a mosaic of mangrove channels, lowland evergreen forest, and powder-white beaches that see more hermit crabs than humans. Established in 1993, the park’s 210 square kilometres shelter a surprising biodiversity: Irrawaddy dolphins breach in the Prek Toek Sap estuary, silvered langurs swing through the canopy, and the air vibrates with the calls of hornbills and kingfishers. A longtail boat ride up the Prek Teuk Sap River is the park’s signature experience — gliding through tunnels of mangrove roots where mudskippers dart and fireflies gather at dusk like scattered constellations. The trail to the summit of Phnom Mollou (277 m) rewards hikers with panoramic views over the archipelago, while the deserted sands of Koh Thmei and Koh Seh invite Robinson Crusoe reveries. Ream feels like Cambodia’s coast before the resorts arrived — raw, salty, and quietly magnificent.